


Origins of the Fake AH and their Dragons

by DarkNymfa



Series: Immortal FAHC Temeraire [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF, Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Fake AH Crew, Gen, Immortal Fake AH Crew, i wrote all of it and then my internet dropped so i have to rewrite all the tags n summary n shit, rip i think i'm missing tags n such, tags and characters will be updated as i add new chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 10:18:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7263949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkNymfa/pseuds/DarkNymfa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The stories of the immortal Fake AH Crew, how they found their dragons, and how they found their immortality.</p>
<p>Most chapters aren't mature or graphic but the fic is tagged just to be safe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Origins of the Fake AH and their Dragons

**Author's Note:**

> I already posted some of these origin stories, but I'm rewriting them because A) I wasn't happy with the writing, and B) the last book of the Temeraire series released so now I need to tweak the fics to match with the canon timeline.
> 
> I also tried to be more descriptive and added more info that is already known by Temeraire fans to help non-Temeraire fans. Yikes I had a really good summary and tags and notes but my internet dropped and I lost all of it.
> 
> Also English isn't my first language and I don't have a beta so if you any mistakes or if you have any advice for my writing please tell me because I want to improve.

James Ryan Haywood is not a good man. In his long life he has had a great many names, and none of them have been without bloodshed. With every name came a new life, new opportunities, and new victims. He liked the thrill of killing, the rush of adrenaline it gave him, the warmth of the victims’ blood. 

Back when he was Marcus Antonius, he would hurt and kill and _maul_ until his pale skin was red and shining, until his black hair was impossibly dark with the blood of many, until he was covered with the glorious liquid which once allowed others to live. He would continue until the only color breaking up the red was the vivid blue of his eyes.

It became an addiction, it started to control his life until he couldn’t stop thinking about it, until he couldn’t _stop_ , until he lost _control_ and lost what little reservation was left. It became an obsession, he spiraled out of control until his life was nothing but alcohol and murder.

And, inevitably, he was caught. He was taken to court, to be judged by the magistrate. Nowadays he hardly remembers it, the process so unimportant outside of its outcome.  
He remembers he was known then as a drunkard who didn’t repay his debts, a mess of a man who lost his mind to drinking to the point that he went mad. He already had little going for him, and in combination with his carefree murdering, it was clear that the end had come for him.

Traditionally, Marcus Antonius would have been sentenced with death. His life to repay for the ones he took. However, fate had other plans and gave him a chance. A fire-breathing dragon had moved in nearby a village close by, and had started causing trouble. Such beasts were incredibly dangerous, easily capable of killing a human being with just a swat of their tail, not to speak of their jaws, claws, and fire.  
Fighting a dragon, especially a fire-breathing one, is a certain death. However, if enough people went to fight it, it would become annoyed by these constant pests and move away.

Anthony was offered the option to fight the dragon, to win his life back. With the promise of freedom and the certainty of death either way, Anthony made the decision to fight the dragon.

He received a sword, a simple and cheap blade but decent enough to not break, and was sent on his way.

\---

Anthony stopped on a hilltop facing the resting place of the dragon. It had retreated to a mountainous area, with little grass and a good number of rocks strewn around. The hill Anthony was standing on was one of the many foothills, with the actual foot of the mountain on the other side of the open space. Anthony could see various mountains from where he was standing, their sides steep and unclimbable. If the dragon cornered him against a mountainside he wouldn’t be able to get away.

But then he saw the dragon itself as it moved slightly, and he very quickly realized that the hill directly in front of the mountains wasn’t a hill at all, but the dragon. It was simply massive, bigger than any living creature Anthony had ever seen, and he couldn’t have even _imagined_ how big it was. Its scales were a vibrant green, the color of healthy grass, and they shimmered softly in the light.

It laid curled up, with its wings folded against its sides and its head hidden underneath them. Its tail, which had previously been curled around the rest of the body, had uncurled and was now stretched out over the open place.

As Anthony watched it, trying to come up with a plan, the dragon moved once more. It leaned slightly over onto its left side, and unfurled its right wing slightly, still using it to cover its head but exposing more of its back leg and side. In doing so, it allowed Anthony to see his one chance at killing the beast. On its side, near its back leg, was a fairly fresh injury. It wasn’t bleeding, but it was clearly very recent and the scales had parted for it, allowing Anthony a direct shot at the flesh instead of having to force his way through the hard scales.

Praying to his gods, Anthony quietly approached the dragon, going the wide way around through the hills to avoid the tail. He snuck closer and closer to the beast, close enough to see its chest expand with every breath, close enough to feel the heat radiate from the beast.

He rose his blade, hovering over the dragon’s injury and gathered all of the force he could before driving his sword down. The smooth blade buried itself deep in the dragon’s flesh, until it couldn’t go any further, and then Anthony let go, the sword stuck in the flesh of now-writhing serpent.

The dragon roared, the sound reverberating deep in Anthony’s bones as he watched the dark, near black blood of the dragon leak out of the wound. It was almost hypnotizing, the blood so hot it steamed around the cold blade, pouring out of the injury and down the dragon’s body, trickling between its scales.

But then the dragon turned around to face him better and Anthony snapped out of it, quickly realizing that he was standing fully exposed and scrambling away. He jumped over a rock and hid behind it for cover, and not a moment too soon as the temperature rose suddenly and flames started licking around him. However, the torment lasted only a few short moments before the flames started weakening, and then the steady stream cut out entirely.

Peeking around the rock, Anthony could see the massive green beast collapsing, its side leaking blood in a steady pace. The dragon kept its gaze on Anthony, growling softly before giving up on that too. Anthony just stood and watched, the sides of the beast expanding shallowly with each labored breath, until it exhaled and didn’t inhale anymore. As he watched, the bleeding side slowed down to a trickle, and then stopped completely.

Anthony slowly walked over to the dragon and pulled out his sword, putting his hand on the side of the dragon to free it. He ignored the sticky blood on his hands in favor of putting away his blade, ignored the puddle of blood on the ground that covered his boots, ignored all of it in favor of thinking nothing. The idea of having won his freedom was so abrupt, so unexpected, that he didn’t know what to think.  
So he thought nothing as he mechanically walked away, back the way he came, until a single thought found its way back into his mind.

Dragons are hoarders, everyone knows so. The beasts are infatuated by shiny trinkets, be it gold or silver or brass, as long as it shimmers like something precious the beasts will kill to collect and protect it.

Glancing around, Anthony quickly found a cave big enough to house the dragon, and sure enough, there were the treasures of the beast. Heaps of gold and silver and precious gemstones were collected there, shimmering in the light and musically clinging when he walked through them, as he made his way to the middle of the cave, to one particular object.

It was fairly large, its surface cold but smooth to the touch. The surface pale green with streaks of equally pale blue. Anthony softly stroked it, his fingers brushing over the object. There was little doubt on his mind about the nature of the object. It was clearly a dragon egg, and the reason that the dragon had fought him. It, no, _she_ , was just trying to protect her egg.

Realizing he couldn’t leave it behind, Anthony decided to take it with him. Taking off his jacket, he wrapped it around the egg and then around himself to carry the fragile object, careful not to drop it. He figured he could sell the egg to someone who could take care of baby dragon, so that he wouldn’t have to feel so guilty.

\---

Unfortunately, as it turns out, not a lot of people are interested in buying a dragon egg, especially after it was taking so long to hatch. Eventually Anthony gave up, assuming that the dragon had died, and kept the egg in his courtyard as a status symbol, to prove that he faced a dragon and won.

Having used the riches he got from the dragon to pay off all his debts, and now owning more money than he could reasonably use, Anthony’s life had made a turn for the best. His murderous tendencies hadn’t left, of course, but it was nothing he couldn’t solve with a lot of drinking and an orgy from time to time.

It was when he was recovering from one such orgies that the egg hatched, and a small dragon emerged. It was an almost perfect copy of its mother, down to the spines on its back and the four sharp talons it had on every claw. A born predator, the small creature immediately went to satisfy its hunger by killing and eating a lion that Anthony had chained up in his courtyard. However, it was still hungry so it made its way over to Anthony, waking him without hesitation.

“I’m hungry, do you have any more food?”

The unknown voice woke Anthony, and he blinked around sluggishly to try and determine where the voice had come from. Anthony didn’t notice the dragon until it nudged him, and even then he couldn’t help but stare at it, unable to connect the pale green dragonet with the pale green egg for an embarrassingly long time.

“So do you have any food, or am I wasting my time?” The dragonet spoke clearly, and finally Anthony made the connection between it and the egg. Groaning at the pain of his head, he got up to look for food for the creature.

Finding some scraps from dinner the previous night, Anthony handed them over to the dragonet, who eagerly ate all of it until it declared itself full. Anthony, not sure how to continue, decided to just hold a conversation with the dragon until he thought of something.

“So do you have a name or something?” He asked the dragonet, who pulled a thoughtful face. “Hmm, no, I don’t think so. Do you want to give me one?” Its voice was soft and chiming, full of child-like wonder.

“What about Vincitatus?” Anthony suggested. The dragonet answered with a thoughtful hum, before agreeing. “Yes, I like that. My name is now Vincitatus.”

\---

After talking with Vincitatus for several hours, Anthony still hadn’t thought of anything to do with the, now sleeping, dragonet. He couldn’t abandon it now, and while he thought of selling the dragonet, he felt bad about selling something that was clearly as intelligent as a human being.

He ended up hanging on to Vincitatus, figuring he had enough money to pay for the dragon’s existence.

\---

Soon Anthony discovered that Vincitatus wasn’t male like he thought, but female, and he started calling her Vici instead. The two of them quickly became close friends, and soon Anthony couldn’t imagine a life without Vici.

True to her mother, Vici grew to be quite the large dragon, with her scales becoming more vibrant as she grew, a beautiful green and her spines vibrant blue. While she lacked the ability to breathe fire, Vici was still fearsomely strong. It was of no surprise to Anthony when he was told he could no longer keep her in the city, and the two of them were send away to join the battles at Gaul.

Anthony thought about refusing, either living in the wilds with Vici or just keeping her there, but once she heard of it Vici refused to go anywhere but to the battles. It wasn’t until much later that Anthony learned that dragons are naturally inclined to fight, and by keeping her in the city Vici had grown impatient.

\---

Joining the battle against the Gauls, Vici caught the eye of Roman Commander Caius Julius Caesar, who came up with the idea of putting archers on Vici’s back to make her even more dangerous. Anthony and Vici served under him for a couple of battles, and became quite feared among their enemies. They started creating weapons to try and take down Vici, but time after time they failed.

Until they didn’t.

Anthony still remembers the terrible screeching noise Vici emitted when the weapon pierced her skin, burying its barbs in her flesh. They had aimed for her heart, and while they hadn’t quite hit their target, the barbed weapon had still found its way into her chest, and after what couldn’t have been more than a heartbeat, Vici’s wings stopped. The world twisted and roller, and the ground started approaching alarmingly fast. Before Anthony could think of anything to do, the ground was there and his world went black.

When Anthony woke up, he felt dizzy and disoriented. As he looked around, he saw Vici curled around him, her green scales shimmering peacefully in the light of sun, and for a moment he relaxed. Then he remembered the battle, Vici’s screech and the stopping of her wings, the falling and the fast approach of the ground. Startled by this sudden memory, Anthony jumped up and yelled, but tripped and fell over Vici’s tail.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he noted how warm the tail was, but Anthony ignored it to attempt to clear his thoughts. This process was quickly disrupted by a familiar, feminine voice, laced with worry.

“Anthony, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Shocked, Anthony opened his eyes and looked straight into Vici’s eyes, the bright yellow they had always been. He slowly extended his hand, and Vici pressed her nose against it. The scales on her nose were soft and warm, just like her tail, just like, Anthony slowly realized, the rest of her body. As he looked her over, he realized she wasn’t injured at all.  
Her chest was unscathed, and even the scars from previous battles were gone. It was like she had been reborn, except that she was just as big as she had been when she died.

\---

Anthony and Vici never returned to the battle, fleeing from civilization, confused by what had happened and not wanting to deal with people questioning them. Whenever they met other people, Vici hid herself, and Anthony took up fake names. They went on with their lives like that for a while, wanting to know what happened to them but afraid of the truth. In the end, a thief ended their confusion by killing Anthony after he wouldn’t give up his money. Vici attacked and killed the thief, but couldn’t find Anthony’s body.  
Moments later, he walked out of the bushed unscathed, and Vici and he figured out that they were immortal. Some experimenting later they got the details down of how their immortality worked, and throughout the course of many years, they realized that they hadn’t aged beyond the age they had when they originally died.

At first, nothing changed for Vici and Anthony. They stayed away from civilization, the presence of a dragon too outlandish for most people, and when he mingled, Anthony went under a false name. But throughout the course of their lives, the world changed. More dragons were recruited, and although Vici still had to stay outside the cities, at least she wasn’t suspicious anymore. When the world didn’t adapt fast enough, the two of them left to see if there was anywhere else in the world where both of them would be accepted.

In the many hundreds of years they have travelled, Anthony has lived many lives, been many people, and carried many identities. Whenever he is done with his current life, or whenever he dies, he sheds his name and picks a new one. Anthony never got close to anyone except Vici, and whenever he shed his name, he shed himself of all connections he had had. He had assumed that when he took up the name of James Ryan Haywood, it would be just like all his previous names. However, when he met a man who called himself Geoff, his world turned upside down. He found himself unable to shed himself of this identity and the connections he had built up, and instead he settled on switching to his middle name.  
Unlike all of his previous names, this was not just some cover of himself. He had become Ryan. And he had become part of this motley crew and their dragons.  
_His crew._


End file.
